Israel plans to build 3,300 new settlement homes. It says it’s a response to a Palestinian attack

By JULIA FRANKEL
Associated Press

JERUSALEM (AP) — A senior Cabinet minister says Israel plans to build more than 3,300 new homes in settlements in the Israeli-occupied West Bank in response to a fatal Palestinian shooting attack. The move, announced late Thursday, drew an angry reaction from the U.S. as relations between the allies are already frayed over the course of Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza. Once the war is over, the Biden administration seeks eventual Palestinian governance in Gaza and the West Bank as a precursor to Palestinian statehood. It’s an outcome opposed by Netanyahu and his right-wing government — and pushed farther from view as new settlement plans are advanced.